A Sister on the Yellow Brick Road: Week 31: Sister Mendoza....."my first born in the wilderness."

Helloooooooo!!

My subject line is from the Book of Mormon!! I love that book!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALICIA TOMORROW!!! I hope you have an awesome day!!
Thank you to Eric for my mini Book of Mormon! I use it ALLL the time. Thank you Chelsea for the amazing package!!! I love everything in it - you know me too well :) Thank you to Melissa for the Christmas package!! And thank you to everyone in my ward who sent me Christmas cards! You are all so thoughtful and I love you so much!

I was suuuper nervous to train at the beginning of this week! I am so grateful for prayer - I can feel Heavenly Father's support and help as I try to teach Sister Mendoza all I know (not very much) about missionary life and effective missionary work! The key is the Spirit!!! :) Sister Mendoza is doing very well and loves working hard - yes, I am so blessed. She wants to do everything right and demolish our goals - let's do it! haha I love her and can't wait to continue working with her and discover how we can best serve the Lord together in this area. Gotta love the mission learning curves!

We have seen SO many miracles!!! We are trying to talk to everyone we see and the Lord is definitely blessing us. We have 6 people solidly preparing for baptism this month!!! Angie and Shania are getting baptized this weekend! We are so excited! They are too :) Brenda is preparing to be baptized on the 24th!! And Jasmine, Ezzie, and Mari are preparing for the 31st!

On Sister Mendoza's first day - Thursday - we had an appointment with Brenda, our second time ever meeting with her. She had been reading in the Book of Mormon and praying the days leading up to this appointment - nothing EVER happens unless they are reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it, the last few days have TOTALLY solidified my testimony of that. Anyway, so we taught her lesson 1, the Restoration. Prophets, Jesus Christ's ministry...Joseph Smith story, all of that. Sister Mendoza's first time teaching it in the field :) At the end of the lesson, Sister Mendoza invited Brenda to be baptized on the 24th of January. Brenda was unsure - she said she still wanted to learn before making that step. She feels like it's right and it's good, but she wasn't comfortable committing. We asked if we could kneel in prayer with her right then and she could ask Heavenly Father if baptism on the 24th is what He wants her to do. She said a wonderful, sincere prayer. We sat in silence. Then she said "okay." super super quietly. She is so sensitive to the Spirit. Then I testified - I don't even remember what I said honestly, I know it was the Spirit, not me. It was SUCH a powerful moment! She was crying, I was crying.

That witness from the Spirit of the Lord is crucial. So crucial. It's not from man, but from God. His spirit communicating to ours. It's something that we cannot deny. I know that this missionary work would be NOTHING without the Spirit. Nothing would ever happen. The Spirit of God is what touches the hearts of the people. I am so grateful I have the wonderful opportunity to testify and bring the word of God, the truth, UNTO their hearts and the Spirit can then bring it INTO their hearts, if their agency allows it.

I am so blessed. :)

I hope every one of you has an awesome week!!! I know we will!

I love you!

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway